At about 7 a.m. on Sunday, February 2, 2014, 21-year-old cyclist Joey Robinson, of Irvine, was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Orange. Robinson was riding on the shoulder of Santiago Canyon Road at Loma Ridge Jeep Trail when a speeding motorist struck him and fled the scene. The impact threw him from his bike. He was declared dead at the scene. Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Marc Stone noticed the motorist’s caved in, smashed windshield while passing her vehicle on Santiago Canyon Road and then discovered the accident scene and Robinson. He alerted authorities of the accident and gave them a description of the driver. Police arrested 18-year-old Sommer Gonzales a short time later.

The Orange County Register reports that Robinson was an avid cyclist who often rode early in the morning. Whether while working at Jax Bicycle Center or pursuing a business degree at Irvine Valley College with the hope of one day opening his own bike shop, Robinson’s passion for riding pervaded his life and will be memorialized in a ride to the site of his death, now marked by a ghost bike, this Wednesday.

The Joseph Robinson Memorial Ride will start at Jax Bicycle Center, 14210 Culver Drive, Irvine, at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5, and will end at East Santiago Canyon Road and Loma Ridge Jeep Trail in Orange at about 7:15 a.m.

Across California, the number of cyclists killed in traffic accidents increased 13.2 percent from 99 in 2010 to 114 in 2011, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. Throughout Orange County, 1,326 bicyclists lost their lives or suffered injury in collisions in 2011, with the OTS ranking Orange County 12th out of 58 counties for its incidence of such accidents in a rating system in which 1st place is considered the worst. Hit-and-run was a factor in 935 of the crashes that resulted in injury or death.

California families who have lost loved ones to traffic accidents have recourse through the civil justice system. For more information on the rights of the families of the victims of fatal accidents, please call 866-981-5596 or contact us online.

All of us at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie would like to offer our condolences to the family of Joey Robinson.